“It was,” said Memory.
“This couldn’t happen,” said Pride. And Memory gave up. Friedrich W. Nietzsche The mechanisms of psychological defense are described in detail in psychoanalysis by S. Freud, and also supplemented by his followers. Defense mechanisms operate unconsciously; their main goal is to minimize negative experiences associated with traumatic experiences. This is how our Self is protected from harmful and negative influences.
Development of the ability to repress
crowding out
- This is a natural
mechanism for protecting
the psyche from extreme stress as a result of internal conflicts.
“... one can discern the basal adaptive nature of this process [of repression]. If one is constantly aware of his entire arsenal of impulses, feelings, memories, fantasies and conflicts, he will be constantly inundated with them.” (Nancy McWilliams. “Psychoanalytic Diagnostics”)
But this ability is not given to us at birth.
“... repression is not a mechanism that exists from the very beginning, because it cannot occur before a sharp division has formed between conscious and unconscious mental activity, and that the essence of repression is the removal and exclusion of any content from consciousness. » (Freud. “Repression”)
The ability to repress completes its formation only by the age of five. By this age, the psyche is structurally
is divided into three components:
Id
,
Ego
and
Super-Ego
.
Dynamically,
the psyche is divided into
conscious
and
unconscious
:
The id
is entirely in the unconscious,
the ego
is mostly in the conscious,
the super-ego
is mostly in the unconscious.
The ego
is where anxiety develops.
Repressions are always produced by the Ego
at the request of
the reality principle
, and often under the pressure
of the Super-Ego
.
The process of repression occurs unnoticed by the conscious part of the Ego
.
The ability to repress is associated with the disintegration of the Oedipus complex
, the formation of
the Super-Ego
and, as a consequence, with
infantile amnesia
- it is as a result of these processes that we remember very little or do not remember at all what happened to us before the age of five.
Thanks to these processes, children's intrapsychic conflicts
associated with
the Oedipus complex
remain in the unconscious - but this does not mean that they disappear into oblivion.
Of course, repression
works not only in childhood.
Freud even wrote a book about this, “ Psychopathology in Everyday Life
.”
We encounter repression very often, for example, when we forget about a planned event that we don’t want to go to. Repression can also be expressed in forgetting the names of people or dates that are unpleasant to us. But in the case of serious trauma in late childhood or adulthood (for example, rape), as a rule, repression does not occur, but isolation of affect
(the affect is suppressed, but the memory remains) or
dissociation
(this is a process similar to isolation, but it occurs further, the person gets the impression that this did not happen to him, and even at the moment of injury he could see himself from the outside).
The logic of repression placement: between escape and condemnation.
At the beginning of his work on the mechanisms of the functioning of repression, Freud describes the logic and transformation of the work of desire from escape to repression.
He gives the following logic for the placement of repression: “Striving => Resistance: 1) flight (you cannot run away from yourself); 2) condemnation (refusal of satisfaction) => Repression (because achieving the goal causes an unpleasant feeling)”
This logic does not cause any specific contradictions, however, it is not always obvious whether the initial desire can only be resolved into flight and condemnation? Are there any other ways of its development?
Consequences of repression
The need for massive repression in childhood gives rise to asthenia
, or, as it is called today -
chronic fatigue syndrome
- because it takes a lot of mental energy to keep
the repressed affect
in
a depressed state
.
On the other hand, it the Id
that is the source of psychic energy,
vitality
- the more instinctive impulses from
the Id
, the more apathetic and depressed a person becomes (see
Economic model of depression
).
But this is not the only consequence of repression
– another disaster is
the formation of a symptom
, which is called
neurosis
.
As mentioned above,
only
an idea
(memory) associated with
an intrapsychic conflict
repressed ; it is this that is reliably blocked in the unconscious.
And the affect
associated with this
intrapsychic conflict
becomes
free
.
“A symptom is a sign and a replacement for the satisfaction of an instinct that has not taken place, the result of a process of repression. Repression comes from the Ego, which sometimes, on behalf of the Super-Ego, does not allow the manifestation of the drive excited in the Id. Through repression, the Ego achieves that the representation, which was the bearer of an unacceptable mental movement, does not become conscious. Analysis often shows that this representation has been preserved as an unconscious formation.” (Freud. “Inhibition, symptom, anxiety”)
Neurosis is a consequence of unsuccessful repression
significant experiences in childhood, and depression is a consequence of
successful repression
(for more information about depression, see
Depression: causes from the point of view of psychoanalysis
).
An example of repression and the development of neurosis in childhood
Freud's phenomenon of repression
associated, first of all, with
an instinctive sexual impulse
(attraction), which, when achieving the goal, was supposed to bring pleasure, but delivers an unpleasant feeling.
Repression
occurs when
displeasure becomes more powerful than the pleasure from satisfaction.
First of all, the phenomenon of repression
Freud is associated with the drama
of the Oedipus complex
.
As an example, Freud cites the case of little Hans
(a boy of five):
“This father stood across his path to his mother. In the presence of his father, he could not sleep with his mother, and when his mother wanted to take Hans to bed, his father started screaming. Hans had to experience how good it is when his father is away, and his desire to eliminate his father was completely justified.” (Freud. “Analysis of the Phobia of a Five-Year-Old Boy”)
That is, by that power
, which caused little Hans
displeasure
and interfered with his claims to his mother - originally his father.
“...during repression, anxiety is not formed again, but is reproduced as an affective state in accordance with an existing memory.” (Freud. “Inhibition, symptom, anxiety”)
Naturally, little Hans grew in hatred towards his father, to the point of wishing him to die (but this does not mean that he understood what death was). Aggression towards his father naturally aroused in the boy a reactive fear of retaliation from a stronger rival. Moreover, this intrapsychic conflict
complicated by the fact that
the boy loved his father and really needed him
(see
Ambivalence
).
It’s better not to feel these soul-tearing contradictions!
Unable to withstand such tension, the psyche forms a process that radically eliminates the problem -
it displaces
conflicting ideas and associated feelings (affects) from consciousness.
Once Hans saw his friend, while playing horses, trip over a stone and bleed. Also, Hans once saw a horse fall in the street, it was lying and twitching its legs, and little Hans thought that it was dying.
“The drive to be repressed is a hostile impulse against the father. Analysis gives us evidence of this by revealing the origin of the idea of the biting horse. Hans saw how a horse fell, and how a friend with whom he played “horses” fell and injured himself. We have the right to assume that Hans wants his father to fall and break himself, like a horse and like a friend. The connection with the departure from home, which Hans saw, suggests that the desire to eliminate his father also found a less timid expression. But such a desire is equivalent to the intention to personally eliminate the father, the desire to kill contained in the Oedipus complex.” (Freud. “Inhibition, symptom, anxiety”)
Father often played horse games with Hans, so the horse turned out to be a successful new object, replacing
father - one might say that the horse turned out to be
a scapegoat
.
Hans repressed
his anger at his father and the fear of retribution associated with this anger.
The affects of anger and fear turned out to be free
- not associated with the father figure.
The horse that fell in front of Hans did not die, but Hans thought that it died because he wanted it, displacing
his anger from his father to the horse.
Along with this shift in anger towards the horse, the hostile expectations towards him from his father, which Hans had previously experienced when his father raised a cry,
.
Hans soon developed a phobia
: He began to fear that the horse would bite him.
But as a result of the development of the phobia, Hans received certain benefits
:
Primary benefit of the disease
Hans no longer felt the soul-rending conflict of hating his father, whom he loved very much at the same time - all his attention now shifted to his fear of horses, and this did not cause an internal conflict: Hans still loved his father, but was only afraid of horses.
“If little Hans, who is in love with his mother, began to show anxiety in front of his father, then we would not have the right to attribute to him a neurosis or a phobia. We would be dealing with a completely understandable affective reaction. This reaction turns into neurosis thanks to only one trait - replacing the father with a horse. This shift constitutes, therefore, what has the right to be called a symptom ." (ibid.)
Secondary benefit from illness
Firstly
, because Hans was afraid of horses - he was now afraid to go outside, and could spend more time at home with his beloved mother.
Secondly
, in the evenings Hans began to have
seizures
demanding maternal affection, which both mother and father treated with due understanding, because the son was sick.
Reversion
Reversion is a psychological defense expressed in replaying a life scenario with a change in the places of subject and object in it. This mechanism is based on the principles of two others: identification and projection.
For example, a person does not have enough care for him, so he himself begins to care about someone and identify himself with this someone. Often it is this mechanism that underlies altruism.
Try to analyze your life experience and find in it a manifestation of the described protective mechanisms of the psyche. Which of them do you personally resort to? Will you be able to use the knowledge you gain to improve your life?
We wish you success!
We also recommend reading:
- Storytelling
- Personal authenticity: what it means to be yourself
- Guilt
- Self-control and how to develop it
- Defense mechanisms of the psyche and psychodiagnostics “Life Style Index”
- Mechanisms of escape from freedom: theses of Erich Fromm
- Behavioral mechanisms
- How to get rid of guilt
- Halo effect
- Social perception
- Manipulative Tactics of Toxic People
Key words:1Self-knowledge
Repressing Trauma
Freud originally had the idea that neurosis developed as a result of trauma
in childhood, primarily as a result of
sexual seduction
.
Freud heard many revelations from his hysterical patients about seduction by their fathers or other relatives - so much that he doubted that it was all true. As a result, Freud also doubted the theory of trauma
and came to the conclusion that his patients themselves had a sexual desire towards their caregivers, which they embodied in a fantasy, but because these fantasies caused anxiety and shame, they were
repressed
, and It was only through analysis that we remembered them as real memories from childhood. (Perhaps this was exactly the case; see more about this here.)
“The mention of protection from irritations immediately brings to mind that repressions arise in two different situations, namely: when an unacceptable attraction is awakened due to external
perception and when it arises
from within
without this kind of provocation from without.” (Freud. “Inhibition, symptom, anxiety”)
Freud used the concept of repression
, especially when it came to sexual or aggressive desires that cause anxiety.
Later, when Freud spoke about mental experiences trying to penetrate consciousness from the unconscious
, he meant precisely
internal experiences
, one might say,
isolated from reality
, and not mental experiences
of real traumas
.
In his fundamental work “Inhibition, Symptom, Anxiety,” Freud introduced the concept of signal anxiety
, meaning precisely the dangers that threaten from within, from
the Id
.
Today psychologists and psychoanalysts use the term repression
and in the case of painful memories and experiences associated with
childhood
trauma For example, a patient assures the psychoanalyst that his childhood was ordinary, there was nothing remarkable about it, and in the process of analysis details are remembered that it would be better to forget
.
If we look closely at the history of the development of little Hans' phobia, we will see that it had a traumatic
origin:
In the presence of his father, he could not sleep with his mother, and when
the mother wanted to take Hans to bed,
the father started screaming
.
It is a very controversial question to what extent a child can be allowed to “infiltrate” the parents’ bedroom. Obviously, a mother should not replace her husband with a son, otherwise it will be an easy Oedipal victory
will deprive the boy of the incentive to develop (see
Oedipus complex in boys
).
But if, in the struggle for oedipal advantage, the father raises a cry
of neurosis
in the boy
is quite likely Especially if a mother seduces her son when she herself wants to take him to bed. A seductive mother
and
a menacing but loving father
cause a soul-tearing
conflict
, which naturally leads to neurosis (as in Freud’s own childhood story, see
Oedipus complex: a view of parents
).
Psychological suppression
Methods of psychological influence on the enemy in sparring are a special tactic or manner of fighting, structured in such a way as to demoralize the enemy with one’s actions or to contribute to a more complete realization of one’s capabilities. Depressing the opponent’s psyche is of great importance in a sports match, because either limits the enemy’s ability to realize his potential, or builds a battle pattern that is more advantageous for the one using these techniques... Psychoanalysis Psychology of the unconscious Psychological Suppression
Repression as a psychological defense
crowding out
in psychoanalysis it is considered
a psychological defense
.
But with affect suppressed as a result of repression, not everything is so simple. After the suppression
of affect and its
splitting off
, the fate of this affect can be different.
Free affect can be encapsulated
,
somatized
,
displaced
,
projected
identification with the aggressor
or one of the other processes
of psychological defenses
can occur , and ultimately
a symptom can be formed
(as in little Hans).
In this case, only one effect is rarely repressed; more often it is a complex
of affects (like little Hans - hatred and fear).
Thus, repression
should not be considered as
a separate defense
- this is only the first stage of a complex mental process, as a result of which other
psychological defenses
,
a symptom
, or, in the case of successful repression of strong experiences,
depression
.
Displacement difference
from
isolation
is that in the case of
repression
, the representation associated with affect is forgotten, and in the case of
isolation
, it is remembered, but is deprived of the acuteness of experience associated with it.
Cancellation
Cancellation is a mechanism for eliminating actions or thoughts that are unacceptable to a person, an attempt to balance some feeling (most often guilt or shame).
An example would be a gift given by a person who is guilty of something. But it should be emphasized that this will only be an annulment if a person takes this step unconsciously.
That is, he must have a sincere desire to give something in order to eliminate the feeling of guilt. If he is simply accustomed to paying off for his misdeeds and gives something because “it’s the right thing to do,” this is no longer an annulment.
Psychoanalytic treatment of neurosis
As noted above, suppressed as a result of repression
affect becomes
free
.
“...repression mechanisms have at least one thing in common - the removal of bound energy
." (Freud. “Repression”)
This free affect
and causes suffering, turning into
a symptom
, causing
depression
or otherwise annoying, transforming through
psychological defenses
.
“...it is not true that repression removes from consciousness all derivatives [derivatives] of what was initially repressed. Access to consciousness turns out to be completely free for them if, due to distortion or due to the large number of connecting links between them, they have sufficiently moved away from the main mental idea, primarily associated with drive. Using psychoanalytic technique, we constantly evoke in the patient such derivative products of the repressed, which can pass through the censorship of his consciousness either due to their distortion or distance from the primary repressed idea.” (ibid.)
It is thanks to the use of free technology
associations, the psychoanalyst can get to the repressed representation and the associated affect.
The task of psychoanalysis
is to reconnect
affect
with its representation and help the patient to experience this affect.
Thanks to such elaboration
, affect loses its sharpness, the representation turns into “just” a memory (narrative), the symptom disappears, depression weakens (see
Elaboration and reconstruction in the case of treatment of depression
).
TOP
Representation, the sum of affect and their various fates in the process of repression.
The author begins to describe the concept of “representation” from afar by describing states of attraction that can be: 1) inactive; and 2) capable of activity => penetrating into the consciousness of desire in a roundabout way. Thus, he emphasizes that drives tend not to directly enter consciousness, but to influence it through indirect (bypass) reflection. Freud comes to understand the repression of representation as follows:
Unrepressed products of the BSZ => the product of the BSZ remains unchanged => the emergence of a conflict in the SV => Active stage of the conflict => Repression of the idea associated with the drive
The motive and purpose of repression for the author is the desire to avoid the unpleasant. One can agree with the author when defining the goal, however, the question of the presence of repression in the absence of desire, therefore in the absence of a desire to avoid the unpleasant, remains unclear.
At the same time, he spoke about attraction in the context of its representation and affect. And about the interaction of repression with the BSZ itself, the author explains the following to the reader:
- Increase in the amount of energy during displacement => approaching the BSZ
- Reduction of energy during displacement => removal from the BSZ / distortion
Freud considered the development of the quantitative drive factor in several ways:
- suppression;
- transformation into a qualitatively colored affect;
- turning into fear.
One may wonder whether this list is limited to the above development paths, whether attraction can move in a qualitatively different direction from the mental to the somatic, i.e. to illness or death?
It is worth paying attention to the author’s idea that the fate of “the affect of the mental correlate of drive is much more important than the fate of its representation; it is this moment that is decisive in assessing the process of repression.” Probably, the author comes to this conclusion about the importance of affect, the mental correlate of desire, compared to the fate of the idea due to the fact that the strength of affect has a much greater influence on the mental state than the influence of the idea.
